Excellence and Justice in Education Academies Charter School
Literacy Intervention Project
Amount Granted: $34,000

As dual-language charter schools, the Excellence and Justice in Education (EJE) Academies prepare students from diverse populations to excel in higher education and to be leaders in creating a just global community. The school is located in El Cajon and primarily serves children whose primary language is Spanish. Seventy-five percent of the students qualify for free or reduced cost lunch.

The goal of the Literacy Intervention Project is to hire a reading specialist who can provide training for classroom teachers on language improvement strategies and provide one-to-three and one-to-one language skills training for underperforming students in the school. The program will target 90 K through 5th grade students who have not attained grade level skills in language development.

Students will meet with the reading specialist or aides throughout the entire school year three times per week in groups of three, but with provision for individual instruction if a child’s skills do not improve. The reading specialist will also conduct extensive teacher, parent, and volunteer training, based on strategies found successful in other settings.

SDWF funds will be used for a portion of the salary for the reading and language specialist and two aides.